Archives

St Peter’s College Archive collects, preserves, and makes use of the heritage of the college and its members, and contains a wealth of material stretching back to the college's foundation (and beyond).

The contents of the Archive broadly fall in to the following categories:

Documents about the administration of the college, including statutes and minute books.

Documents about the college’s finances.

Documents about the college’s buildings.

Records of the clubs and societies of the college, including photographs.

Some records relating to former Masters, Fellows, staff and students.

Please note that the Chavasse family papers, including the correspondence of our founder, Francis James Chavasse, and our first Master, Christopher Chavasse, are on deposit at the Bodleian. The papers of Noel Chavasse are held separately at the Imperial War Museum.

The St Peter's Archives also hold a small number of items given by private donation that do not relate strictly to the history of the College, including the Brooke-Sladen papers, which includes correspondence sent by and on behalf of members of the French royal family in exile in England during the reign of Napoleon. It also has a large collection of the private papers of John Barron, who was Master between 1991 and 2003.

Records of a more confidential nature, especially about persons still living, are usually closed to the public.

The Archivist can answer simple enquiries about the archives himself by post or email. Please contact Dr Richard Allen at archives@spc.ox.ac.uk.

For more complex enquiries, researchers may be advised to visit the archives themselves. The Archives of St Peter’s College are usually open, by appointment only, on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10.00-12.45 and 1.45-4.30.